Protective boots



2 1966 HANS-JOACHIM PAUL KLOSS 3,

PROTECTIVE BOOTS Filed Feb. 25, 1964 51 maawmwaam ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,235,981 PROTECTIVE BOOTS Hans-Joachim Paul Kloss, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany, assignor to Auergesellschaft G.m.b.H., Berlin, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Feb. 25, 1964, Ser. No. 347,180 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 27, 1963, A 42,445 4 Claims. (Cl. 36-585) This invention relates to high top boots, and more particularly to overboots for protection against heat.

While working in high temperature areas, such as while tapping blast-furnaces or fighting conflagrations, care must be taken that the clothing and footwear of the workers are protected from the intense heat. At the same time, the heat radiation should be kept away from the bodies of the workers as much as possible. For these purposes many kinds of garments have been developed. For instance, protective suits of non-inflammable material such as glass fibre, asbestos or impregnated natural fibre textiles are known, which are provided with a heat-reflecting facing of metal foil. Of this kind, closed suits of the overall type incorporating integral boots and a hood completely enveloping the head and having an aluminised window are known. Protective suits are also known which consist of a jacket with hood, trousers and top boots. These are worn over the normal working garb. The boots are used only in combination with a strong working shoe so as to provide as many insulating materials as possible between the workers body and the outer surface of the heat-protective suit.

On completion of work the boots must be quickly removable so as to expose the wearer as soon as possible to a cooler atmosphere. On the other hand, the suit must be made so that it can be quickly put on in the event of catastrophes. This generally is not too difficult as far as the jacket and trousers of the known heat-protective suits are concerned, but putting on and removing the high-topped heat-protective boots of known types is complicated and even dangerous.

To give the wearer a high degree of safety in movement and to avoid possible slipping, the heat-protective boot must fit firmly around the shoe worn inside of it and around the trouser leg. Wrinkling of the boot top should also be prevented because it reduces the area of the heat-repelling surface. For this purpose, known heat-protective boots are fitted inside with a system of straps characterised by a short strap fastened at its lower end to one side of the boot bottom and having a buckle at its upper end, and a long strap fastened to the other side of the boot and running through the buckle up to the top of the boot. The buckle, which includes a pivoted tongue for frictionally engaging the long strap, holds the strap in the position into which it is pulled. To loosen the strap, the tongue must be turned up away from the strap. This arrangement has the disadvantage that the long strap must be pulled upwardly to strap the boot to the shoe, but pulling on the long strap pulls the buckle and the short strap upwardly too so that a loose loop is formed, inside of which the shoe has some freedom of movement. However tightly the long strap is pulled, this shortcoming cannot be eliminated.

A further disadvantage of known strap systems is that to loosen the buckle the end of the tongue must be turned up by the unprotected hand. As the tongue is at the bottom of the boot top, over the instep, the wearer must therefore reach down inside the boot. To be certain of his grip, he must use his bare hand. After a spell of duty in which the aluminised boot top has become heated, there is danger of burning the lower arm and wrist, for the boot only slowly radiates the heat absorbed.

Patented Feb. 22, 1966 The sleeves of the heat-protective jacket are also at a heightened temperature and the unavoidable contact of the sleeve with the material of the ordinary Working suit worn underneath also brings danger of burning if the wearer reaches far down into the boot.

The aim of this invention is to eliminate the disadvantages and dangers of the known arrangements.

The invention is based in part on the idea that in order to draw the strap system firmly over the instep the long strap must not be drawn straight up through the buckle, but to one side. To make this possible there is, in accordance with the invention, fastened to the long strap below the buckle an eye, through which the strap emerging from the buckle is passed. This eye deflects the long strap so that on its being drawn upwardly in the boot the portion lying between the buckle and eye is pulled laterally along the surface of the instep to draw the short strap and buckle down firmly against the instep. For quick release of the inside shoe from the strap system, the invention provides a release strap connected to the buckle tongue and extending upwardly in the boot. It is pulled to remove the tongue from engagement with the long strap. This eliminates having to reach into the boot with unprotected hands. Instead, a short pull on the release strap at the upper end of the boot, even while the hand is wearing protection, will release the buckle from the long strap.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a View of a boot, partly broken away, showing my strap system being released; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the strap system shown in FIG. 1, but being pulled tight.

Referring to the drawings, a boot 1 that is large enough to fit over a shoe (not shown) is provided inside with straps and a buckle for securely holding the shoe in place. For this purpose, the lower end of a short strap 2 is secured to the inside of the boot at one side of its bottom in a position to cause the strap to extend up toward the instep directly in front of the ankle. Fastened to the upper end of this strap in a position to extend across the instep is a buckle. The buckle includes a frame 3 connected at its rear end to the strap. The front end of the frame is formed by a roller 4 extending across it. Behind the roller a flat tongue 5 extends across the frame and is pivotally mounted in its opposite sides. The front end of the tongue can engage the roller to prevent the tongue from swinging down past it. The front edge of the tongue may be serrated to provide it with teeth. This type of buckle is well known and is adapted to grip between the tongue and roller along strap 6, the lower end of which is fastened at the side of the boot opposite to the short strap. This strap extends up through the buckle between the tongue and roller and has its upper end attached to the top of the boot.

It is a feature of this invention that a rectangular eye 8 is connected to the long strap 6 below the buckle and extends upwardly therefrom a short distance. The portion of the long strap leaving the buckle extends outward through the eye before extending upward in the boot. The top of the eye may be encircled by a roller 9. It will be seen that when the long strap is pulled upward as indicated in FIG. 2 by grasping it near the top of the boot, the eye will compel the strap to pull the buckle across the shoe toward the eye. The harder the long strap is pulled, the tighter the short strap and buckle and lower portion of the long strap will be drawn against the shoe. The straps are held in this tight position, after the pull on the long strap is released, by the frictional engagement of the tongue with the long strap which is thereby clamped between the tongue and the buckle roller. With this construction the straps can be drawn very tightly about the shoe in order to hold the boot firmly in place, because pulling on the long strap does not lift the buckle away from the shoe.

Another feature of this invention is that the buckle can 'be opened from the top of the boot in order to release the buckle from the long strap and allow the boot to be removed from the shoe. For this purpose, the upper end of a release strap 11 is fastened to the top of the boot, from which the strap extends down to the buckle. The lower end of the strap is connected with the buckle tongue in such a manner that when the strap is pulled the tongue will be lifted away from the long strap. Preferably, the lower end of the release strap is fastened to the upper end of a rigid lever 12 the lower end of which is joined to the tongue. Most suitably, the tongue and the lower end of the lever are joined directly above the pivotal axis of the tongue so that when the upper end of the lever is swung backward toward the short strap the lever will swing the outer end of the tongue upward and away from v the long strap. To enable the release strap to swing the lever in this manner, the normal position of the lever when the tongue is in gripping position is inclined upwardly and away from the short strap as shown in FIG. 2. When the release strap 11 is pulled, it will swing the lever upward into an upright position as shown in FIG. 1, and that will swing the tongue away from the long strap so that the buckle will be released.

With the arrangement disclosed herein, a quick pull on long strap 6 will strap the boot tightly to a shoe inside of it. A pull on the release strap releases the shoe and permits the foot to be withdrawn from the boot. Both operations are conducted from the top of the boot, so there is no danger of burning wrist or clothing by having to reach down into the boot. Attachment of the long strap to the top of the boot anchors the upper end of the strap so that when the strap is pulled in order to fasten the boot to the shoe, the leg of the boot is pulled upward to draw it smooth. This invention could be used with protective suits having integral boots, in which case the two longer straps could extend up to the waist and be held in position there by snap fasteners or the like.

I claim:

1. In a boot, a short strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at one side of its bottom in a position permitting the strap to extend up toward the instep, a buckle frame fastened to the upper end of the strap, a friction tongue pivotally mounted in said frame, a long strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at the side opposite said short strap, the long strap extending up through the buckle frame and upward in the boot and adapted to be gripped by said tongue to strap the boot to a foot therein, and a release strap connected at its lower end to said tongue and extending upward in the boot for pulling said tongue out of engagement with said long strap.

2. In a boot according to claim 1, the u er ends of said release strap and long strap being secured to the top of the boot.

3. In a boot, a short strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at one side of its bottom in a position permitting the strap to extend up toward the instep, a buckle frame fastened to the upper end of the strap, a friction tongue pivotally mounted in said frame, a long strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at the side opposite said short strap, the long strap extending up through the buckle frame and adapted to be gripped by said tongue to strap the boot to a foot therein, an eye connected to the long strap below the buckle frame, the long strap above said frame extending outwardly through said eye and then upward in the boot, and a release strap connected at its lower end to said tongue and extending upward in the boot for pulling said tongue out of engagement with said long strap.

4. In a boot, a short strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at one side of its bottom in a position permitting the strap to extend up toward the instep, a buckle frame fastened to the upper end of the strap, a friction tongue pivotally mounted in said frame, a long strap having a lower end fastened to the inside of the boot at the side opposite said short strap, the long strap extending up through the buckle frame and upward in the boot and adapted to be gripped by said tongue to strap the boot to a foot therein, a rigid lever secured to said tongue above its pivotal axis and inclined upward therefrom away from said short strap while the tongue is gripping said long strap, and a release strap fastened to the upper end of said lever and extending upward in the boot for swinging the lever toward the short strap to remove the tongue from engagement with the long strap.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner, 

1. IN A BOOT, A SHORT STRAP HAVING A LOWER END FASTENED TO THE INSIDE OF THE BOOT AT ONE SIDE OF ITS BOTTOM IN A POSITION PERMITTING THE STRAP TO EXTEND UP TOWARD THE INSTEP, A BUCKLE FRAME FASTENED TO THE UPPER END OF THE STRAP, A FRICTION TONGUE PIVOTALLY MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME, A LONG STRAP HAVING A LOWER END FASTENED TO THE INSIDE OF THE BOOT AT THE SIDE OPPOSITE SAID SHORT STRAP, THE LONG STRAP EXTENDING UP THROUGH THE BUCKLE FRAME AND UPWARD 